Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2021

Publication Title

A Quaint and Curious Volume: Essays in Honor of John J. Dobbins

Pages

117-135

Abstract

The traditional Roman baker (pistor) is typically thought of as having been horizontally specialized; that is to say he or she performed all the tasks involved in converting raw materials (grain, salt, and water) into bread. This means that they were, in early modern terminology, both millers and bakers. The two professions are generally thought to have vertically specialized within the industry sometime at the end of antiquity. Previously, scholarship has only casually treated this instance of specialization and for the most part it is thought to have been driven by technological innovation, specifically the watermill, which took milling out of the workshop and put it in the hinterland or on the outskirts of cities. In this paper, the argument is made that technological innovation did not drive this specialization, but rather that socially stratified workforces and the vertically integrated strategies of urban businessmen introduced perspectives that transcended the workshop's social and economic needs, allowing for the two tasks (milling and baking) to be separated from one another both spatially and professionally.

Original Publication Citation

Benton, J. (2021) Pistore panem petimus: Specialization in the late-Roman baking industry. In J. J. Dobbins, C. J. Weiss, & D. K. Rogers (Eds.), A quaint and curious volume: Essays in honor of John J. Dobbins. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/download/9781789692181#page=125

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